Error installing Photoshop (2019 MacBook Pro)

I’m trying to install Photoshop on my new computer, and I got this error:

Exit Code: 7
-------------------------------------- Summary --------------------------------------

  • 0 fatal error(s), 1 error(s), 0 warning(s)

ERROR: DW013: Unable to locate volume for path. Please verify that path [UserPreferences] is a valid path. Please ensure that if any intermediate directories exist, they are valid directories and not files/symlinks

How do I fix this?

Before you ask me what paths I have, I haven’t the slightest idea.

Try suggestions here:

What OS Version of MacOS X are you using?

What version of Photoshop are you installing?

Did you format your own hard drive, or is it the one that the Macbook Pro came with, formatted the way Apple set it up before you bought the computer? If you formatted it, did you use any of the options such as case-sensitive?
There is no such folder as “UserPreferences” on my computer, and I have Photoshop installed, although it’s possible Adobe changed things since the version of PS that I use. I can tell you that the path to Preferences (not “UserPreferences”) for a given user is

/Users/{YourUserName}/Library/Preferences
Check to see if you have such a folder at such a location. In order to do so, you may need to uncheck a checkbox hiding somewhere in View Options after navigating to your own home folder (/Users/{YourUserName} ) thus indicating that yes, you’d like to be able to see your own damn Library folder and dive into it.

Assuming you’re a legitimate holder of the Adobe software, it might make sense to contact their tech support number if you can’t figure it out and don’t get any answers from here or elsewhere online.

OS 10.14.5 Mojave
Photoshop Elements 10, purchased in 2012.
Hard drive is as-delivered.
UserPreferences is what it said in the error.

Photoshop Elements 10 was designed to install on MacOS 10.5, 10.6, 10.7 and that was a lifetime ago in OS terms. This thread on the Adobe user formums suggests that Elements 10 stopped being compatible somewhere in the vicinity of MacOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or 10.12 (Sierra).

I don’t know what the beforementioned UserPreferences folder is, or is all about. It may be a folder that Adobe creates.

ETA: if you have Parallels or VMWare you can run an older MacOS within a window and thereby run older software.

Well, crap.

I haven’t tried it on High Sierra yet, but it did work on El Capitan. (I hesitate to try to start it on my 17", since some programs make it freeze and reboot.) I seldom use Photoshop. All I know how to do is add captions to photos. Maybe I’ll take a class.